1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a substantially rectangular container for dispensing articles such as towelettes, wherein the container can stand longitudinally erect on a shelf propped on an end panel.
2. The Related Art
Store shelves are the frontline for a product to attract consumer attention. Packaging is the heavy artillery in this war. Exotic shapes and colors grab attention. Yet some types of products are only modestly amenable to utilizing these allures.
Chemically impregnated pads, sheets and tissues (collectively defined as towelettes) are constrained to only certain types of outer packaging shapes and dispensing mechanisms. Towelettes usually are sold in stacks of multiple individual units each requiring individual dispensing. Towelettes generally can be utilized for personal hygiene, cosmetic purposes and household cleaning applications. Fluid impregnated wipes require packaging which avoids evaporation of solvents. Dry towelettes impregnated with dry chemical coatings (e.g. surfactant compositions) require exclusion of atmospheric moisture during storage periods. Problems arise where a stack of impregnated towelettes is packed together in a common container. Dispensing of a single item requires resealability of the container to prevent the items from either drying out or absorbing unwanted moisture.
Most commonly, towelettes are placed within a resealable outer pouch, the pouch being a foil wrapper. These foil wrappers recline flat on a shelf. Since they are unable to stand erect, they present only a side panel profile to a shopping consumer. Improved visibility can be provided by stacking the foil wrapped towelettes in a cardboard display box. An illustration of this technique is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,077 (Telesca et al.). The technique suffers defeat once consumers have removed a few of the wrapped products from the display carton; the remaining unsold units now have space to slouch downwardly. This reduces their advertising visibility and accentuates a disheveled appearance.
Rigid and refillable towelette dispensing articles are available in the marketplace. Illustrative are the relatively hard dispensing containers described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,331 B2 (Okin et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,634 B1 (Telesca et al.). Common to both patented dispensing packages is that one of the two major surfaces of the containers is intended as a support surface for resting on a shelf. This means that only a minor panel of the package has an outward oriented facing on a store shelf. There is a need for a much larger advertising footprint on store shelves. The towelette delivery package not only must have advertising presence but must be of low cost construction and functionally capable of maintaining the wet or dry environmental requirements of the individual towelettes.